As varied reactions continue to trail the recent European Union (EU) reports on the 2023 general election, a United States-based associate professor, Yemi Oladimeji, on Monday, described the verdict of the body as a “threat to the nation’s sovereignty”, saying “it portends danger to the peaceful coexistence among ethnic groups in Nigeria”.
While contending that the report should be disregarded, he stressed that “it was not comprehensive enough to be valid since the European Union (Election Observer Mission) failed to cover a substantial number of polling booths across Nigeria during the exercise”.
In a personally signed press statement forwarded to the Nigerian Tribune, Oladimeji, who is a fellow of the American Society of Nephrology, stated: “There is no time better than now to assert our sovereignty as a nation and Nigeria should resist imperialism under any guise”.
According to him, “No group or individual outside Nigeria has the competence to define us better than who or what we are or interpret our political and electoral processes better than ourselves.
The statement read: “The EU knowing its limitation in interfering directly with the internal affairs of Nigeria now resorts to a subtle appeal to make the world believe something was amiss with the nation’s 2023 general elections through that report.
“They may come as our friends, but we must learn not to fall for their antics. Nigeria must assert her sovereignty at all times, not minding their measures. How, on earth, could 40 observers on the EU platform present true and objective report on the election with a large population and size of Nigeria?
“How can a body with little knowledge of peculiarities and variables that form the basis of the electoral process now present a report to undermine its integrity?
“Nigeria is just trying to smart out of the complexity and complications of the 1914 amalgamation foisted on her people, when the EU is surreptitiously playing the role of who pays the piper dictates the tune. Because they have been supporting Nigeria and other African nations financially and otherwise is not enough reason to keep us under their feet. That is not acceptable to us.”
Oladimeji, however, charged all stakeholders to wait for the judiciary, through the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) for the final verdict on the winner of the election rather than the EU report.
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